fancy colors: Most often associated with cultured freshwater pearls, consist of unusual colors like intense pink, orange or plum.

fancy shapes: Most often associated with cultured freshwater pearls, consist of unusual shapes like bars, crosses, letters, dragons and triangles.

faux pearl: Any imitation pearl.

feather pearl: Cultured pearl gown in the (fancy) shape of a bird feather.

feeding pearl: Legend in India that describes feeding a pearl to a rooster to let its digestive acids restore the original beauty of an old pearl.

first-generation cultured pearl: Freshwater or saltwater cultured pearl whose growth is started by implanting a tissue piece, or a bead nucleus and tissue piece, in a host mollusk that has not grown a pearl before.

fitaam: Wooden nose clamp used by natural pearl divers in the 19th century.

fjeris: Folk songs developed and sung by the pearl divers while on pearling ships in the 19th century.

flame structure: Optical effect commonly associated with conch pearls; produced by aragonite crystals arranged in two directions that are often intertwined.

floor system: Method of pearl farming used in Australia where mollusks are placed in baskets attached to posts or fences and left on the seabed.

flower pearl: Cultured freshwater pearl grown in the (fancy) shape of a flower.

folded crown mussel: Common name for Cristaria plicata, a freshwater mussel that?s also called the cockscomb mussel.

fossil pearl: Pearl that has fossilized and usually dates back to the Pliocene and Miocene periods.

free suspension: Method of pearl farming where mollusks are suspended in wire or nylon panels.

French dye method: Method of dyeing natural and cultured pearls using an organic coloring agent; originated in France.

French river pearl: Imitation pearl made from the hinge of Pinctada shells.

freshwater pearl: Pearl grown in a mussel in a non-saline environment.

fuhyu pearl: Chinese name for natural or cultured abalone pearl found or grown in Haliotis discus.

Fujita, Masao: Known as the father of the cultured freshwater pearl industry, Fujita was the first to culture whole freshwater pearls in Lake Biwa, Japan.

Fujita rose pearl: Freshwater pearl from Lake Biwa first developed and marketed by Dr. Masao Fujita in 1930. The pearls were produced by implanting a drilled mother-of-pearl bead and a donor-mussel tissue piece in the host mussel?s soft body.

funado: Kind of ama (Japanese pearl diver) who worked with a partner and a boat.